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Much political time as passed since the Local Elections which saw UKIP’s power and following truly illuminated. The response Farage has culminated over such a short period highlights a number of concerns within British society. However, the way in which the three main parties have chosen to combat the rise of Farage is, in my opinion, completely misguided.

Farage has inspired a debate regarding the future of Britain’s position in the European Union; however, this is more a cultural debate, rather than a policy-based debate. That meaning, the three main parties, or perhaps primarily Labour and Conservatives, are choosing to address this through the typical political way: a debate leading to a decision on a referendum. However, what UKIP highlights is a major anxiety which undercuts British society; Farage is looking at culture, rather than politics – to which most people are seemingly apathetic. Of course, the irony of this is that as a political party, UKIP would most likely be completely disastrous – one only has to observe the £120bn black-hole within their budget policies.

There is a fear within society that jobs are being threatened by mass immigration. Not only jobs, but general freedom: of speech, of appearance, etc. Indeed, much of these fears may be myth, and jobs are threatened by bleak economic outlook rather than mass immigration. Nonetheless it seems innate human nature that the individual has to quantify the unquantifiable: this inexpressible and misguided hate has to be directed and attributed to something or someone, and usually that is the minority. As a consequence, parties like UKIP and BNP see a rise in votes because they offer short-term solutions, or speak for the “common man” when, in fact, the short-term is just papers over the cracks.

Digression aside, Farage and his party have the right idea. They address the core and the centre of the issue; they do, in fact, voice the concerns of the common man, whereas the major parties voice the concerns of the actual economic and political outlook. As horrible and shallow as this may seem, government has diplomatic relationships to maintain whilst also public confidence and support. Yet, the diplomatic relations is what keeps the high streets booming and the job market sufficient. That is the harsh reality. UKIP, however, ignore the diplomatic aspect and say what people want to hear.

I personally see Farage as a opportunist, feeding on the fears of modernity and change, rather than offering any remedy to the political, social and cultural ills. Whether they will continue to rise into 2015 will be interesting the track. Much alike the 2010 election, they will replace the Liberal Democrats: the wild-card party who really think they will offer a new change only soon to disillusion the voters.

I think it’s hard to really define our country as a democracy any more due to the nature of parliament. Although we see parties under the banner of Labour, Conservative, or Liberal Democrats, they’re essentially one amalgamation of common beliefs, those being: we’re a predominantly financial country that trades not in material goods, but relies wholly on a strong (or currently weak) financial center i.e. London.

Indeed, when the City was performing well, Blair hailed its performance and was a bulwark for the City. Now, however, we attack them and are willing to bludgeon the bankers that lost all our money – when it was the years of deregulation that allowed such a thing to happen. I am a strong supporter of Labour but I’m also a strong supporter of holding those accountable for allowing such disasters to happen – of course I blame the Conservative government, too, for becoming extremely reliant on and tied to the American economy and its financial sector. It’s a long-winded argument.

Nonetheless, and perhaps too late on the matter, after the degradation of Britain’s AAA rating, Milliband (and Labour) had countless opportunities to land attacks on Osborne for his austerity plans and the route he’s taken so far. But, in typical Milliband style, instead of taking the opportunity to berate him with abuse and demand answers for reasons we’ve lost the AAA rating, Labour offered nothing and instead squabbled among themselves and offered no coherent alternative for what is happening. Ed Balls predicted that something along the lines of this car crash would happen and if he had stuck to that script then Labour would have had a clear stance in Parliament, but instead they remain ambiguous. The Tories, however, have made their stance perfectly clear which is to stick to the current austerity plan or cut harder and faster. Perhaps an approach similar to World War Two needs to be adopted which encourages an increase in demand and an answer to heavy unemployment. On the contrary, nobody is going to listen to Labour because they hit the poor end of 13 years of governing.